A Confused and Confusing Affair: Arkansas and Reconstruction

by Mark Christ

Overview

Reconstruction has been called one of the most tumultuous and controversial periods of Arkansas’s history, an era in which African Americans sought to secure the benefits of their hard-won freedom, the former leaders of the state pursued restoration of their pre-war economic and political status, and the U.S. Army and the Freedmen’s Bureau sought to maintain a balance between these competing interests.

By the time Reconstruction ended in 1874, Arkansas had been wracked by brutal political violence, black legislators had experienced their first opportunities for service, and the Republican Party was embroiled in the tragicomedy of the Brooks-Baxter War, setting the stage for the rise of the Democratic “Redeemers.”
While thousands of books have been written about the American Civil War, the tense period that followed the war has received relatively little attention. In light of this, the Old State House Museum in Little Rock brought a distinguished group of experts together for a day-long seminar in 2017 to discuss Reconstruction in Arkansas and its aftermath.
Speakers discussed the greater issue of Reconstruction across the South, the political situation in Arkansas during the period, the activities of African American legislators in the state, political and military violence during

Reconstruction, the long-lasting effects of the 1874 state constitution, and the bizarre affair in which two men with claims to the governor’s office fought over control of the state capitol.

In this collection of essays written by the event’s speakers, Carl H. Moneyhon provides an overview of Reconstruction in the United States, Jay Barth explores post-Civil War politics, Blake Wintory discusses the African Americans who served in the Arkansas General Assembly, Damon Cluck delves into the Arkansas militias that provided the firepower for Reconstruction violence, Kenneth Barnes gives insights into the political violence that convulsed the state, Thomas DeBlack unravels the Brooks-Baxter War, and Rodney Harris visits the 1874 Constitution and its effects on Arkansas’s future. The writings collected in this volume offer valuable insights into Reconstruction in Arkansas and how its effects still resonate today.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9781945624155
Publisher:	Butler Center for Arkansas Studies
Publication date:	04/01/2018
Edition description:	1
Pages:	190
Product dimensions:	5.90(w) x 9.00(h) x 0.90(d)

About the Author

Mark K. Christ is community outreach director for the Arkansas Historic Preservation Program, an agency of the Department of Arkansas Heritage. He has written, edited, or co-edited several books for Butler Center Books, including All Cut to Pieces and Gone to Hell: The Civil War, Race Relations, and The Battle of Poison Spring; The Die Is Cast: Arkansas Goes to War, 1861; This Day We Marched Again: A Union Soldier’s Account of War in Arkansas and the Trans-Mississippi Region; and Competing Memories: The Legacy of Arkansas’s Civil War.

Table of Contents

Contributors 7

Introduction and Acknowledgements 11

Chapter 1 The Complex Character of Post-Civil War Reconstruction, 1863-1877 Carl H. Moneyhon 15

Chapter 2 An (Un) Exceptional Moment: The Politics of Reconstruction-Era Arkansas Jay Barth 63

Chapter 3 African American Legislators in the Arkansas General Assembly, 1868-1893: Another Look Blake Wintory 87

Chapter 4 Brindletails, Minstrels, Hercules, and Lady Baxter: The Brooks-Baxter War and the End of Reconstruction in Arkansas Thomas A. DeBlack 147

Chapter 5 "It Ain't Over Till It's Over": Political Violence in Reconstruction Arkansas, 1865-1892 Kenneth C. Barnes 171

Chapter 6 Redeeming Arkansas: The Constitution of 1874 and Post-War Politics Rodney Harris 207

Notes 239

For Further Reading 267

Index 273